“Antioxidant foods keep your cells healthy, making you better able to fight off colds and flu,” says Dawn Jackson Blatner, R.D., spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association and author of The Flexitarian Diet (McGraw-Hill).

Vitamins A, C and E and selenium are big antioxidant disease-fighters -- and they’re found only in plant foods.

Eat them raw or add them to your favorite feel-good foods, like chicken soup. Mom’s favorite remedy for upper respiratory infections is now even recognized by scientists as highly effective for fighting colds.

Chicken soup was shown to relieve respiratory symptoms such as nasal congestion and sniffles, according to a study by the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Researchers aren’t sure which ingredients to credit, but the soup typically contains several antioxidant-rich foods for immunity, such as potatoes, onions, carrots and celery.